It’s test time for Anothertwistafate
Owner Peter Redekop paid $360,000 for Anothertwistafate at the Ocala (Fla.) Breeders’ Sales’ auction of 2-year-olds in June, so Blaine Wright expected something special when he began training the colt.
“Any time Peter buys anything out of Florida, he always buys something of quality,” Wright said. “You always know you’re getting some good horse flesh.”
Anothertwistafate will try to show just how good he might be when he runs in the $100,000 El Camino Real Derby on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields.
The son of the late sire Scat Daddy is the 5-2 second choice in the morning line in the field of 13 for the 11⁄8-mile race. Kingly, trained by Bob Baffert, is the 2-1 favorite.
Although Anothertwistafate trained very well at Golden Gate Fields, his racing career began inauspiciously as he was sent to Santa Anita and finished ninth of 12 going 6 furlongs Nov. 3.
“Obviously, we weren’t happy with the outcome,” Wright said. “However, he kept pace with those horses for quite a ways. You never get any kickback at Golden Gate (on the synthetic surface), but when dirt hit him in the face he got green. He backed up from fourth to last but came running when he got wheeled out and the gallop-out was very good. The result wasn’t good, but it did give him race experience. Sometimes some good comes out of results that aren’t good.”
Back at Golden Gate Fields, Anothertwistafate led from the start and won a 11⁄16-mile maiden race by 4 lengths in fast time Dec. 9.
“That was the race we all thought he could run,” Wright said. “He’s shown stamina all along, and he seems to have a high cruising speed. It was relieving to see him run that kind of race.”
Anothertwistafate also went wire-to-wire in a 5length allowance win Jan. 4.
“Who knows what he’s faced,” Wright said. “This is our first solid test. People say he’s this and he’s that, but he’s still got a lot to prove.”
One thing he has to prove is that he can be effective without getting the early lead.
“We’ve been prepping for occasions when he won’t be the only speed,” Wright said. “Three or four times I’ve worked him behind one, two, four horses. You never know what kind of position you’ll be in when you get into bigger races. There are horses vying for the Kentucky Derby and getting into prep races and a lot of them have speed. If he is going to go on, he’ll have to get behind.”
Anothertwistafate is one of seven Triple Crown nominees in Saturday’s race, which offers 17 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby.
“Somebody asked me if he was a (Kentucky) Derby horse,” Wright said. “I’ve never been on the Derby trail, never won a Derby prep race. It’s so far of a reach for people like us, but do you dream? Hell yes, you dream.”